Genius People Who Beat The System - Part 2

Have you ever beat the system in hilariously ingenious ways? Let's find out about people who have done that by creating clever solutions to tricky situations.

April 27, 2023・

11 min read

Everyone likes to be a little rebellious at times. But some of the little, passive-aggressive acts of rebellion people carry out to beat the system are impressive enough that they should consider it as a profession! From hilarious rulebreakers to the riskiest outfit ever worn to work, let’s check out some genius people who beat the system.

The Brazillian Way

When rules can’t be broken, people will find a way to bend them instead. Like this group of merrymakers in Brazil, enjoying a slightly elevated drink after local legislators made it illegal for bars to set out tables on the sidewalk. They’re not technically on the sidewalk, they’re above it; so, crack me open a cold one, and I’ll be right up.

Don't Paint the Walls

After their landlord prevented them from painting the walls of their apartment, the tenants got creative. They plastered the walls in paint strips, giving everything a splash of color and providing an excellent conversation starter, all within the bounds of the tenant’s agreement.

Super Dad

When raising little rulebreakers of your own, you’ve got to show them how it’s done first-hand. That’s precisely what one dad did when he told his kids to draw him laying down. 15 minutes of easy, silent distraction is just about enough time for a nap. Maybe even longer if the pictures are colored in.

Tube-Based Snack

This next up-and-coming threat to the establishment has learned the ways of the rebels well, and made her mother proud in doing so. Sharing the image on Twitter, Valerie Schremp Hahn revealed how her daughter had taken an old lip balm tube and filled it with cheese to eat in class. So, next time someone tries to tell you there’s ‘no eating allowed’, tube-based snacks are the way forward.

Cheat Sheets

More classroom hijinks now, with one student’s solution to only being allowed to take one side of paper’s worth of notes into a test. The beauty of gluing your double-sided sheet of notes into a mobius strip is that it technically only has one side.

And as the saying goes, technically correct is the best kind of correct. But best of all, when this picture was posted online, one internet user shared their own tale of examination rebellion against a one-side-only rule.

Someone in their class wrote an entire page of notes in red pen, then another page’s worth on top in blue. They showed up to class with an old pair of 3D glasses, and put their plans into motion. Whenever they looked through the red lens, all the red text was filtered out, leaving only the blue, and vice-versa for the blue lens.

With a full two pages available to the nifty-minded student, according to the original poster, the teacher was so impressed by the ingenuity, they allowed it to be used!

I Am Groot

Onto a slightly lazier form of rule-bending now, which came about after a class of students were asked to write a résumé and cover letter for a superhero as homework. While many pupils likely had a blast writing action-packed employment histories, one student went the easy route.

They chose Groot. Choosing a character famous for saying 3 words only, the student demonstrated high proficiency in the copy and paste functions, if nothing else.

Blasphemy

Twitter user kittycattwitch learned she had a rebel in the family after she asked her grandpa why so many of his books were wrapped in duct tape. His response? "I tape the covers so it looks like a bible and I can read it during church." Pure genius, with a healthy sprinkling of blasphemy.

DIY PhD

Sometimes, bending the rules can save lives. There’s no better example of this than Doug Lindsay, who was bedridden for years with an undiagnozable disease. After countless consultations, doctors had effectively given up any hopes of him getting better. Determined not to let himself die, Doug began reading all kinds of books on diseases and the human body.

He eventually became somewhat of an expert, despite having no degree, and eventually delivered a presentation about his illness at a medical conference. But to give more legitimacy to his ideas, he presented himself not as a patient, but as a man of science.

With his impressive self-taught knowledge, he was able to convince people to help him study, and possibly even treat, his unusual disease.

Doug was successful in both regards, and he pioneered the development of an entirely new surgery to treat his disease. The surgery removed the inner regions of his adrenal gland, which, as his disease had been found to be caused by excess adrenaline, changed his life completely.

No longer bedridden, Doug Lindsay now gives speeches and works as a medical consultant. And all because he was bold enough to take a unique approach after the system had given him up.

Fake Restaurant

In a slight change of direction now, sometimes, bending the rules can simply expose some pretty serious flaws in a system, like when YouTuber Josh Pieters decided to set up a fake restaurant account on a popular food delivery app.

Surprised at how easily it could be done, with little in the way of authentication or quality checks, Josh soon found himself inundated with orders. Only, the restaurant’s meals were actually microwave meals purchased from the supermarket below Josh’s apartment, hastily heated in Josh’s microwave and resold at massively-inflated prices.

Passing meals between Josh’s apartment and the delivery cyclist below, the crazy adventure proved how alarmingly easy it is to play the system of online food. With their point made, though, Josh and his pals did the right thing and returned all the money to customers. Always good to stay classy when you play the system!

Power of Confidence

A similar case occurred in 2019, when journalist Simon Doherty conned his way into 3 music festivals in 3 days without buying a single ticket. How? By the power of a few costumes and a whole lot of confidence. Simon located the staff entrances of each festival grounds, and approached them in suitable attire, waving fake wristbands and lanyards as needed.

His bag full of costumes included everything from hi-visibility jackets to aprons and even a pair of old headphones for when he wanted to imitate a DJ. With the power of confidence, Josh showed just how easy it is to get into events for free. So, instead of buying event tickets, maybe it’d be wiser to invest in a hard hat, a clipboard and some high-visibility clothing.

Hulk Hands

For some people, being able to do your own thing, unrestricted by nonsensical rules, is an important part of being polite. That’s exactly what the Crown Prince of the Malaysian state of Johor, Tunku Ismail, had in mind when he was criticized for the friendly act of shaking hands with women.

His critics thought his behavior was an unsuitable way for a man to interact with women, something the Prince in turn found utterly ridiculous, and he responded appropriately. He released a video of him abiding by these ridiculous new rules with top-level passive-aggression to make a mockery of his critics, shaking hands wearing Hulk hands.

Prison Break

Taking a step back in time now, there are few more symbolic acts of beating the system than escaping prison. And throughout the 1800s, for Australian bandit Joseph Johns, prison breaks were kind of his ‘thing’. Joseph made so many escape attempts, many of which successful, that the government had to build a special escape-proof cell to hold him.

The prison governor was so confident in his new construction, he was heard saying to Joseph, ‘if you get out again, I’ll forgive you’. And, well, he got out again, by chipping away at his cell wall Shawshank Redemption-style. Unsurprisingly, when they finally found him a few years later, he was not forgiven.

Paul Bunyan, the Patriot

Going Stateside now, where many people are familiar with the tall tales of lumberjack Paul Bunyan, and the statues of the giant that dot rural American roadsides. But while most are seen carrying Bunyan’s iconic axe, the one in the image below is a little different.

That’s because the statue’s owners, the House of Doors in Connecticut (home to the largest selection of doors in the USA, in case you were wondering) had to modify theirs.

With local laws prohibiting advertising statues so close to the road, the House of Doors got around the dilemma by replacing Bunyan’s axe with a flag. Now, they can legally call the statue a flagpole, an object which is allowed pretty much anywhere. The American love of the red, white and blue knows no bounds.

Fake Proposal

Sometimes, when it comes to playing the system, if you can, you might as well. That’s the smart mentality one Twitter user adopted when she and her partner faked a proposal to get a free dessert at a restaurant. It worked like a charm and proves that a plastic wedding ring should definitely be added to any system-beater’s bag of costumes.

Virtual Suit

Why limit costumes to physical outfits? The wildcard in the image below made a virtual suit to be used as a filter on video calls. Which, for its designer, meant no longer having to put on a shirt on video calls to his boss.

It’s kinda genius, but in the event that it fails for even a millisecond, the boss is going to see a sight that neither of them wanted to be shared.

Don't Step on the Grass

This purple-clad young lady responded with some malicious compliance when she was told she couldn’t step on the grass to pick flowers. There’s no arguing, her feet are clearly on the path!

Genius Gardener

The usual system of ‘fill up watering can, water garden, fill up can again’ has been totally flipped on its head by an ingenious fellow. Having created something that’s equal parts water fountain and functional time-saver, this guy might be better suited for a career designing Rube Goldberg machines.

Go Play Outside

Many kids prefer staying inside and playing video games. But one kid’s momma had grown tired of seeing her son wasting a beautiful summer’s day gaming inside. So, she gave him instructions to ‘go play outside’, which he interpreted a little creatively. It’s not perfect, but at least he’ll get some vitamin D to fuel his killstreaks.

Destined for Greater Heights

This fellow took an equally interpretive approach to baggage check-in, having clearly grown tired of paying ridiculous prices to store luggage in the hold. With the help of a carefully-placed foot to lift his bag and lower the registered weight, his future seems destined for even greater heights than the flight he’s about to board.

No App No Homework

But not all system-breakers work solo. Some attempts to beat the system require a united effort. That kind of rebellious unity was seen in China, by kids stuck under quarantine, whose homework was being assigned through an app.

The students realized that, if they flooded the app’s store page with enough negative reviews, they could have it pulled from the app store. And no app, of course, meant no homework. So, quarantined kids from several districts united, flooding the app store page with over 15,000 one-star reviews in one day.

Amazingly, the kids were able to drop the app's rating from 4.9 to 1.4 overnight. But, sadly for them and gladly for the app’s developers, it wasn’t quite enough for the app to be removed. Not all attempts to beat the system are successes, but this one was certainly a valiant effort, and worthy of recognition.

Not Men

From a failure, to an incredible success now, in the form of this group of Iranian soccer fans, enjoying themselves at Azadi Stadium in Tehran. According to Iranian law, none of the men in the image below should’ve been in the stadium in the first place. Why? Because women aren’t allowed to attend soccer games in Iran, and these dudes are actually girls.

In pretty convincing disguises, they managed to sneak themselves into a Persian Gulf Pro League match, undetected. Considering Iran’s famously extreme punishment for this type of thing, these amateur drag-stars can be safely named ‘boldest system beaters of the year’. Congrats, ladies! Well, gentlemen.

If you were amazed at these clever people, you might want to check out our entire genius people who beat the system series. Thanks for reading!